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KillHour posted:Audiophiles exist because back in the 60s, simple adjustments could make a huge change. You could swap out tubes for ones with different characteristics and none of them were perfect so it was all subjective. Media was inherently lossy and couldn't be easily copied. Home equipment was simple to modify and improving all the time. It was like how car people of the same era were loving around with the tuning on their carburetor with nothing but a screwdriver. KozmoNaut posted:To bring this back to quick questions, is there really no good option for bringing sound from a laptop to a stereo, other than a long-rear end cable or messing around with more or less unreliable wireless bodge-jobs? One of my customers uses some cheap no-name wireless transmitters that power off of USB and take an analog audio input in their stores to allow their users to stream Spotify/Pandora/whatever to the overhead speakers, they seem to work well. I'll see if I can find the specific model again.
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Mar 9, 2018 16:31
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wolrah posted:One of my customers uses some cheap no-name wireless transmitters that power off of USB and take an analog audio input in their stores to allow their users to stream Spotify/Pandora/whatever to the overhead speakers, they seem to work well. I'll see if I can find the specific model again. There used to be a bunch of them available, but I'll a little bit skeptical when it comes to the cheap stuff from China. Ideally I want something that doesn't have a huge dongle and won't accidentally break a USB or headphone socket when I move the laptop around.
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Mar 9, 2018 17:02
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Coworker selling the following. Polk audio Psw10 CS1 RTi8 x2 450$ excellent condition Good buy for my media room? Also could put in pool table room if sound would fill multiple rooms.
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Mar 9, 2018 17:57
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Olympic Mathlete posted:Sony used stuff as used in their audio kit, but Sony audio kit was never stunningly good in the first place. Sony Walkman, though. Without my WM-2011 I would've never started listening to music seriously.
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Mar 9, 2018 18:03
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logis posted:Coworker selling the following. The psw10 is a little small for movies. You're basically paying full price for the towers and getting a $100 center and $100 sub free.
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Mar 9, 2018 21:35
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KillHour posted:The psw10 is a little small for movies. You're basically paying full price for the towers and getting a $100 center and $100 sub free. What about for general sound? Ie house parties, etc Thanks for the info; speakers are a field that I never got into. I would also need a receiver. Recommendations for something with this system?
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Mar 9, 2018 22:16
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I use one in my office (15x10 room) for music and it works well there. Might want two for a larger space. As for the receiver, budget? How many HDMI ports? Second zone? 4k? Surround speakers? How many? One sub or two? Bluetooth? Apps (spotify, pandora, slacker)? You have an iPhone or Android? Music only here or synchronized elsewhere?
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Mar 9, 2018 22:23
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wolrah posted:Bluetooth latency isn't great either, at least with the default SBC codec that everything falls back to. No idea how good or bad low latency options like aptX-LL are, I don't have anything that supports that mode. The marketing mentions ~40ms of latency and that could be about right, which is definitely ok for casual use. Probably not for gaming or the high end cinematic experience. With bluetooth 3.0 you could expect that to be in the triple digits. On a laptop you could compensate with an offset in some video players (or simulate 40ms latency before buying anything!), and for playing just music it doesn't matter at all. Bluetooth usb dongles can be tiny. Any combo specifically mentioning aptX-LL for each should in principle be ok. I'm honestly surprised it's decently viable; I never thought bt would get there (because most devices supporting video and bluetooth can futz with buffering and offsets anyway).
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Mar 10, 2018 00:52
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I’m moving into a 1br apartment in May and I would like to have both my bedroom and my living room capable of playing audio from a central receiver located in the living room. It’ll be the usual home theater 5.1 setup in the living room and just a couple of speakers in the bedroom (and maybe one speaker in the bathroom, but not initially). So if I’m cleaning my apartment going in and out of the bedrooom, I’ll still be able to hear the music playing from my phone clearly. I would like to do this with the least amount of wires as possible, and if possible I want to be able to toggle the speakers in the bedroom on and off. Is this posssible? Seems like it should be, but I could probably explain thorassic surgery better than how to set up a proper audio system.
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Mar 10, 2018 01:23
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wolrah posted:That is probably the best explanation of "audiophile" behavior I've ever heard, good job. Beaten to it, but seriously that was amazing. I'd never put a ton of thought into it before and that makes so much goddamn sense it simply must be right on the nose.
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Mar 10, 2018 01:42
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boop the snoot posted:I’m moving into a 1br apartment in May and I would like to have both my bedroom and my living room capable of playing audio from a central receiver located in the living room. You're looking for an amp with an A/B speaker selector (sometimes also called Zone 1/Zone 2). Almost every 7.1 receiver I've seen allows for this configuration. Look for receivers that are "Multi-Zone" or "Dual-Zone". You can even find receivers that are "Multi-Source/Multi-Zone" which will allow you to play your TV in the living room and CD in the bedroom simultaneously.
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Mar 10, 2018 04:11
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Alternatively, if you don't want to run any wires between your living room and your bedroom, you can use a couple chromecast audios. Depends on what capabilities you need.
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Mar 10, 2018 04:16
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I have a Yamaha receiver so I bought a WXAD-10 to make a wireless multiroom with pre-existing active speakers. Works great. Phone app is very easy to use, allows flexible configuration masters and slaves. Master and source specific volume sliders. Can switch between lip sync and multiroom audio sync for video sources. I can play music from iphone safari youtube to multiroom audio which I was told is not possible with chromecast audio. Normally I use it with Spotify connect.
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Mar 10, 2018 06:57
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KillHour posted:I use one in my office (15x10 room) for music and it works well there. Might want two for a larger space. 200$? That's what seller recommended. HDMI..2+ I guess? Android and iPhone. One sub. Not sync'd anywhere else
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Mar 10, 2018 11:01
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KillHour posted:https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/denavrs720w/denon-avr-s720w-7.2-ch-x-75-watts-networking-a/v-receiver/1.html Of those 3 the Denon is the only one with all HDCP 2.2 inputs that can support 4k/HDR, the Yamaha has one and the Integra has zero and it's still 2 years old. For anyone who doesn't need 4k that Integra is an incredible deal though. e: If anyone wants to be super cool like me and be able to say "I don't even care about surround" the Onyko 8270 is back on there
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Mar 10, 2018 17:45
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DoLittle posted:I have a Yamaha receiver so I bought a WXAD-10 to make a wireless multiroom with pre-existing active speakers. Works great. Phone app is very easy to use, allows flexible configuration masters and slaves. Master and source specific volume sliders. Can switch between lip sync and multiroom audio sync for video sources. I can play music from iphone safari youtube to multiroom audio which I was told is not possible with chromecast audio. Normally I use it with Spotify connect. this seems to be up my alley since i'll mostly be using it to play spotify from my phone. what type of speakers do you use that work with that?
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Mar 10, 2018 17:48
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qirex posted:Of those 3 the Denon is the only one with all HDCP 2.2 inputs that can support 4k/HDR, the Yamaha has one and the Integra has zero and it's still 2 years old. For anyone who doesn't need 4k that Integra is an incredible deal though. I asked if they needed 4k and they didn't say. 
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Mar 10, 2018 17:52
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I have this receiver, I picked it up from Best Buy in a sale before Xmas for $250 which is long gone but this price is still good. Feature set for the money is insane, practically the same as the Yamaha 7810 which is nearly twice the price - and that’s a Costco model of an $800 receiver. From memory it has 3 or 4 inputs that are HDR ready of the 8. Onkyo have had issues with hdmi boards in the past but should be clear and I’ve had no issues personally. https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/onktxnr656/onkyo-tx-nr656-7.2-ch-x-100-watts-networking-a/v-receiver/1.html
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Mar 10, 2018 18:09
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The 4k up scaling is pretty nice. I wasn't really a fan of Onkyo's UI but maybe it's better now?
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Mar 10, 2018 18:55
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Your TV is probably better at upscaling than your receiver.
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Mar 10, 2018 18:58
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boop the snoot posted:this seems to be up my alley since i'll mostly be using it to play spotify from my phone. what type of speakers do you use that work with that? The WXAD-10 you mean? At the moment I have them attached to 10” active PA speakers. I also have JBL LSR305s that could be used with it. Or an old NAD stereo receiver and Tannoy Mercurys I have laying around. The receiver is a RX-V681 attached to Dali Zensor 5s.
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Mar 10, 2018 21:52
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qirex posted:Your TV is probably better at upscaling than your receiver. Yeah I’ve left it off personally. We’re far enough from our 65” that SD/720/1080 resolves as good as can be expected.
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Mar 10, 2018 22:10
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qirex posted:Your TV is probably better at upscaling than your receiver. Yes but without it, you won't get OSD on a 4k input.
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Mar 10, 2018 22:38
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I finally got to upgrade my system with a sub and now I feel like I need a bit more control of the EQ and crossover between the sub and speakers. I'm thinking about trying a minidsp but I'm not sure if I've got a decent plan or if I should just get something with Audyssey or whatever built in. The receiver is a Panasonic SA-XR57 getting toslink from my TV and RCA from a bluetooth dongle. My current plan is to run the TV's optical and bluetooth analog into a MiniDSP 2x4HD, then run left/right/sub out to the analog surround inputs on the Panasonic. I have a very rudimentary knowledge of REW and was planning on using that to do measurements and make any EQ curves. I also figure that if I decide automated setup would be easier I can buy the Dirac live license. Does that seem like a sensible approach? It seems like the easiest way to get more control without just buying a new receiver. Alternatively, I have a Harman Kardon HK3480 that has an RCA interconnect between the preamp and the amplifier. I could put a minidsp in analog mode between the preamp and amplifier stages. But it's big and goofy looking in a way I liked 12 years ago when I was in college but not so much now.
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Mar 20, 2018 19:57
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Just got a Sonos Play:1 and I've now discovered it only supports SMB v1, but as MS (and most everyone else) has disabled use of that there's no streaming from my PC's music folder. Google (and Sonos' support forums) says a RaspberryPi is the solution for a low-cost media server - has anyone else done this? Wouldn't mind finally getting one just to play about with as well, so willing to spend a bit of time setting it up.
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Mar 20, 2018 20:46
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powderific posted:I finally got to upgrade my system with a sub and now I feel like I need a bit more control of the EQ and crossover between the sub and speakers. I'm thinking about trying a minidsp but I'm not sure if I've got a decent plan or if I should just get something with Audyssey or whatever built in. Man, that sounds like a hassle I’d be willing to buy a new receiver to avoid, and you’re going to be severely limited on new devices and formats. Even my 10 year old Pioneer has very good auto EQ and room analysis, so I’m sure you can find something decent fairly cheap.
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Mar 20, 2018 21:54
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powderific posted:Alternatively, I have a Harman Kardon HK3480 that has an RCA interconnect between the preamp and the amplifier. I could put a minidsp in analog mode between the preamp and amplifier stages. But it's big and goofy looking in a way I liked 12 years ago when I was in college but not so much now. If the sub is powered I would do this.
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Mar 20, 2018 23:17
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Yeah, the sub is powered. Why would you suggest that over using the panasonic amp? Concerns about the receiver messing with the signal I feed it through the analog inputs? edit: For just getting a new receiver, I was looking at the Denon X3300W since it has the audyssey xt32 stuff on it. For $500 refurbed it'd get me a ton more features than the panasonic or HK, but I'm not sure I really need those features and a minidsp is only $200. I'm assuming I'll be able to get similar results EQ-wise (with more effort obviously.) powderific fucked around with this message at 23:49 on Mar 20, 2018 |
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Mar 20, 2018 23:30
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powderific posted:Yeah, the sub is powered. Why would you suggest that over using the panasonic amp? Concerns about the receiver messing with the signal I feed it through the analog inputs? Your original plan doesn't pass the signal through the Panasonic's pre-amp before applying dsp, meaning you'll have to adjust volume on the sub separately to the mains every time you adjust system volume. A workaround would be to run the sub input to a side channel on the receiver, set it to full range, and use a speaker level output to feed the sub. A Lone Girl Flier fucked around with this message at 01:10 on Mar 21, 2018 |
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Mar 21, 2018 01:04
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There's a six channel set of surround analog inputs on it that I thought I'd put all three channels into, and then use the sub out from the receiver along with the speakers. See the rear panel pic: https://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-SA-XR57S-Receiver-Discontinued-Manufacturer/dp/B000FYZQSW I thought that would make it so the panasonic preamp would be able to do volume on everything?
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Mar 21, 2018 02:06
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Oh cool. I missed that when I looked at the specs. Be sure to disable all dsp on the receiver (set main speakers to full range, no bass redirection) and it should work a treat. I guess the only trade off here is that you are limited to the Panasonic's 6ch discrete input if you want to use the sub. The second option allows you to use all of the inputs on the amp. A Lone Girl Flier fucked around with this message at 03:02 on Mar 21, 2018 |
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Mar 21, 2018 02:59
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Oh yeah, another benefit to using the Panasonic is that you'll be performing dsp on the full strength signal, as opposed to the other amp where you'll be doing it on an attenuated signal. The first method is ideal, but in practice you'd be hard pressed to notice a difference, especially if the minidsp is 24 bit.
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Mar 21, 2018 03:11
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Sweet, put the minidsp on order and should have it for tinkering this weekend. I've wanted to mess around for a while anyway so good deal that I have a use for it. I'm only using two inputs on the amp currently and I could live without of of them so it's not a big deal being stuck with the 6ch in.
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Mar 21, 2018 04:01
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Is there something that converts an optical audio signal into 5.1 analog signals? I can only find stereo. I have an old Klipsch 5.1 system designed for hooking up to a PC so don't really need a whole system. My new TV doesn't even have a headphone jack so I can't even get stereo 
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Mar 22, 2018 03:08
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A receiver will do that, and you can upgrade to nicer speakers later without changing anything. You want one with like level outputs which have been becoming a thing only on high end receivers. You can get great deals on older receivers though.
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Mar 22, 2018 03:15
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taqueso posted:A receiver will do that, and you can upgrade to nicer speakers later without changing anything. You want one with like level outputs which have been becoming a thing only on high end receivers. You can get great deals on older receivers though. I was hoping not to spend that much money I guess :P
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Mar 22, 2018 04:14
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This doesn’t look great, but could be a starting point for finding something suitable. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072L3Z9TT/ref=psdc_280341_t2_B01DPAA0ZQ
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Mar 22, 2018 04:17
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Charles posted:Is there something that converts an optical audio signal into 5.1 analog signals? I can only find stereo. I have an old Klipsch 5.1 system designed for hooking up to a PC so don't really need a whole system. My new TV doesn't even have a headphone jack so I can't even get stereo Optical can only handle 5.1 if it's from a DTS or DD+ source, which is probably why you can't find boxes that output 5.1 since they would have to have a Dolby decoder in them. Just get the ones that output to stereo and have the receiver upmix it.
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Mar 22, 2018 04:43
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EL BROMANCE posted:This doesn’t look great, but could be a starting point for finding something suitable. Yeah I was looking for something just like that, although the reviews look terrible, haha. It uses Linux -- wonder if it uses open-source decoders. TheLastManStanding posted:Optical can only handle 5.1 if it's from a DTS or DD+ source, which is probably why you can't find boxes that output 5.1 since they would have to have a Dolby decoder in them. Just get the ones that output to stereo and have the receiver upmix it. I don't have a receiver, just a speaker system with discrete analog inputs.
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Mar 22, 2018 05:23
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